


I Hope I Never Learn An Easy Way

by geckoholic



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic Fluff, M/M, Polyamory, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:33:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25536643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geckoholic/pseuds/geckoholic
Summary: The glow of the laptop screen illuminates the room, the sleeping figures of Ash to his right and Shorter to his left, and Eiji yawns.
Relationships: Ash Lynx/Okumura Eiji/Shorter Wong
Comments: 6
Kudos: 115
Collections: Rare Male Slash Exchange 2020





	I Hope I Never Learn An Easy Way

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HandmaidenOfHorror](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HandmaidenOfHorror/gifts).



> As requested, canon-divergent happier AU where all the boys survived, a little snapshot from what could have been their live together.
> 
> Not beta-read, so all mistakes are most definitely are mine.
> 
> Title is from "Ocean" by Parachute.

Eiji quite likes being invisible. For most of his youth, he's turned heads, one way or another. As a rising sports star, as a former rising sports star with a tragic injury, as Ibe's unexpectedly promising photography intern. Then, on a smaller scale, he ignited the hate of Lee Yut Lung, became a target by Ash's side. Quite a lot of excitement for the first twenty years of his life. More than enough, as far as Eiji's concerned. 

The glow of the laptop screen illuminates the room, the sleeping figures of Ash to his right and Shorter to his left, and Eiji yawns. Truly, no one can accuse him of leading an exiting life these days. He's awake way past midnight to do the bookkeeping for the small event management business he's running with Shorter: he's doing the photography, Shorter's in charge of the catering, they have part-time employees for most everything else. It's not exactly a goldmine, but it's fun and they break even in the end, and anyway, combined with Ash's salary they have enough of an income to keep the lights on and put food on the table. Be comfortable, all things considered. 

It works out. It all somehow works out. 

Most nights it's Ash who stays up late, comes to bed last. His education was part of their deal with the government, for their testimony on Banana Fish and all that entailed, on Golzine's dealings and the Lees, and he spent quite some time agonizing over which major to pick. Something with maths offered itself, he's really good with numbers, but in the end he wanted to make a difference in a much less abstract sense. He studied law. Now he's a special prosecutor, works sex trafficking and exploitation cases. It's not always that he sleeps as soundly as he does tonight. He insists that he can handle the work, though, and that it's worth all the bad memories it brings sometimes. It's not quite under the radar, that kind of work, but he's keeping away from the spotlight. He works in the background, for the sake of the victims, not for a career. 

Eiji closes the laptop. He's not quite done yet, but he's too tired to keep going. All he wants is to lie down with the two men he loves more than life itself, be enveloped by their warmth. Curl around Ash, wait for Shorter to unconsciously press up behind him. They are in tune with each other, feel each other's presence, and always end up in a heap of limbs by morning. 

***

He wakes up alone in the bed, but surrounded by bickering. Ash is with him in the bedroom, half-dressed in a white shirt and socks, hectically looking for some other piece of clothing, but not too busy with that to ever stop arguing with Shorter. It takes Eiji a moment to catch on; apparently it's about who gets to take the car this morning. That's an argument Ash is likely to win, what with being the only one with a steady day job. He needs to get to the office on time. Shorter and Eiji don't have another gig until the weekend. 

Eiji stretches out on the bed, then sits up and rubs his eyes. That's enough so that Ash notices he's awake and immediately ceases his wild hunt. He hurries over to the bed and sits down. Eiji scoots over at once and clings to him like a spider monkey, tilting his head up for a kiss. Ash indulges him, as usual, and only tuts at him once they've parted. 

“You shouldn't stay up so late,” he says, pads of his thumb brushing the dark circles under Eiji's eyes. 

Eiji nods towards the kitchen, where Shorter's still muttering, apparently unbothered by the sudden lack of a captive audience. “One of us has to. Numbers aren't running themselves.” 

Ash merely tuts at him. Eiji decides against pointing out how hypocritical it is of him to call Eiji out on staying up half the night to work, steals another kiss instead. He holds onto Ash when the latter tries to free himself, likely to resume his quest, and that earns him a long-suffering sigh. 

“Some of us have to get to work,” he points out with a cheeky grin, laughs when Eiji sticks his tongue out at him. It's an old argument, well-worn, never serious. Eiji flops back down on the bed. Ash leans down to kiss his temple. “On my way out I'll tell Shorter to bring you breakfast, yeah?”

“Hmhhmm,” Eiji murmurs into the pillow. He hears some more puttering around, then the rustle of clothes, a zipper being pulled up, and the door being quietly, carefully closed behind Ash. 

Shorter, on the other hand, all but explodes into the room what could either be five minutes or five hours later. Eiji isn't quite sure; he's drifted back off in the meantime. He considers turning around and feigning sleep, but the smell of pancakes and scrambled eggs goes a long way to convince him that staying awake is in his best interest. 

He sits up, propped up against the headboard this time, and holds onto the tablet Shorter brought with him while the latter climbs into bed next to him. 

“Breakfast in bed,” Shorter says, gesturing at the food in front of them, and at a smaller, round tablet with juice and coffee he deposited on the bedside table. “Don't you ever claim I'm not grateful for you doing that tax stuff.” 

Eiji leans over and kisses him by the way of a _thank you_. He tastes of sweetness, sugar and dough, and his hand finds its way to the waistband of Eiji's briefs, under the blanket. That's a promise for later, though; neither of them would want their food to go cold, and besides, they have all day. And then, all evening, once Ash is back to join them. 

They work. They complement each other. They fit together like puzzle pieces, all three of them, and Eiji can't remember a time when he ever wanted anything else than this life, these two men, this quiet aftermath of a nightmare they all managed to survive more or less unscathed.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [dreamwidth](https://geckoholic.dreamwidth.org/), [tumblr](http://lostemotion.tumblr.com) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/spacenerdz).


End file.
